Avocado & Promise

“Did you find it?”

I got angry. I was still going through cupboards when she asked, if I did find it why would I be opening and closing cupboards like a spastic fool?

“I promised you I’ll find it, just go to the bedroom and relax,” I said without covering how dismissive I was being. The final place to check was the fridge, I opened its door and pulled out all the food, everything from creamed avocados to blocks of cheese were in there.

I couldn’t find it, it’s not here. I looked at the amniotic fluid and blood on the kitchen tiles, she gave birth no more than half an hour ago, where is our baby?

Encapsulated & Dog

I gave the flimsy door a well-positioned kick and it swung open with bits of splintered wood peppering the air. I motioned for my partner to go in, just as soon as he jogged into the building a dog jumped at him, sinking its teeth deep into his arm. The dog never barked and my partner never yelled, we were still in the clear. I took a carefully aimed shot at its head with my muffled gun and it went as limp as my partner’s arm. I signalled for him to stay by the door in case anyone investigates. I broke into the air-locked safe and there it was, encapsulated in a thick, transparent membrane to protect it from the elements, the last Twinkie made by the humans.

“Station, I have found all artefacts, mission Anthropology is completed. Requesting a shuttle back up with medical supplies, Over.”

Dog & Underdog

Thing won’t start. Again. Now was not the time for this nonsense, I’m late to work and now I’d have to deal with a lifeless car. I knew it was going to be a dog ever since its previous owner described his time using it as “exciting but not in a good way.”

I called my boss telling him there’s no way I could make it on time, after an incoherent rambling peppered by some rather colorful language I had a chance to tell him it was because of the car.

“How irresponsible are you?! We were already the underdogs going into this and you’re the only one left.”

Being a racing driver is alot more drama than I anticipated.

Lost & Me

I was panicking, I’ve read about these things and seen them in movies but when it’s actually happening to you it’s a whole other world. I had all these options in my mind but the sheer frenzy at which they came at me had me lost in a torrent of my own thoughts. kidnapping is way more stressful than all those actors make it out to be.

“Please just let me go I won’t call the police!”

I told her to be quiet.

Sun & Sin

After setting up camp on the moon we took the time to gaze upon the earth for what was to come. There is an asteroid large enough to pretty much exterminate all life on earth, I was fortunately one of the few who managed to escape, but really all we did was buy ourselves another month or so of existence. The asteroid struck. The sky above Italy glowed red, it all seemed to be in slow motion but we knew that the plume of ash and destruction enveloping the world was likely moving at the speed of sound. It really is doomsday for humanity, every hope, every sin, every achievement will be wiped away clean as if we never existed. The resulting ash and debris blocking the sky today means that the next time the sun will rise and set on, it will be on a dead planet.

Paperclip & Obstreperous

Printer whirring. Chair creaking. Margaret chewing. I’ve had it with this office. Everything and everyone seeks to distract me and the throw the blame on me when I fall behind on my deadlines. Paperclips scraping against reams of paper, staplers snapping and spitting out those horrible little abominations. I have always noticed that the sound here was obstreperous at best, at worst it was unbearable. I have my plan all set out though, I spent my entire life’s savings on it, it would take me all night but it will be well worth it. The following working day I was still in the office, having spent all the available time I had to do it, I saw my co-workers enter the office.

“Hey why is everything covered in cotton?”

Prosthetic & Heart

I kept calling out to my son, only the brightly colored yet dead shipping containers all around me replied back with a faint echo. I lose sight of him for one second and this happens, sometimes I really think he’s looking to rip my old aging heart. I started walking around, searching in vain, either something several hundred yards caught his eye or he’s purposefully hiding from me as a sick joke. I heard a creak. I turned my attention to an ajar shipping container’s door, I rushed in and, confronted by darkness, turned on the flash on my phone. A scraggly white man with a long, weathered face and welted skin was staring at me, a hobo who had made a home for himself amidst all the ordered boxes. One arm was longer than the other, a badly done prosthetic, although given his circumstances any prosthetic limb would be a good one. Something on the hand glinted in the harsh light of my phone, my son’s wedding ring. The sleeve was covered in blood.

Demon & Limbs

My wife woke me up. There was a commotion downstairs. I picked up my gun from the night stand and walked down the stairs in complete darkness, I knew my way around the house. My head still woozy and my limbs disconnected and uncoordinated from the night before. I stopped near a light switch and listened to discern where the intruder was. He was a few feet away from me, by the TV. I pointed my gun in that direction and switched on the lights simultaneously. I saw a demon, its face continuously distorting into the faces of the people I killed the night before, its body spastic and twitching. I shot it three times in the head. I heard my wife rush down the stairs to meet me, a look of horror on her face when our eyes met. What are you doing, she asked. Without breaking eye contact I pointed at the lifeless body of the creature. Confusion sprouted on her face. I looked to it and there was nothing there, no blood, no disturbance on the carpet, just three bullet holes on the wall opposite me.

 

Orangutan & Serendipity

I’ve been waiting all year to watch this movie, Planet of The Apes, I’ve invited only my non annoying friends and cleared my day after the movie so I can think about its brilliance in peace. My favourite character was the albino Orangutan because how big of a waste is it to include a monkey that’s known for its color only to have it be a different color! Brilliant. As the trailers ended and the movie was about to start a man at the front row stood up and started shooting a gun, no doubt aggravated at his poor choice in seating. People started rushing out the back doors with the angry guy hot in their heels. Pretty soon the theatre was empty save for my bucket of popcorn and I. Serendipity.

 

Stegocephalia & Sarcophagus

I lit up the torch and held it in front of me to see the cave better, but all I achieved was blinding myself to the surroundings due to bright flame inches away from my face, those Indiana Jones movies weren’t all that accurate apparently. I tossed it aside and turned on my torchlight, scanning the place for the coveted Sarcophagus of King Pu’it, but all I saw were more and more branching tunnels lined with some weird vegetation. To add icing to the cake the whole place reeked of what seemed like my late grandma’s denture after she forgets them in a glass of whiskey and burnt out cigarettes. This is not what I imagined tomb raiding to be. Just then, I heard a scuttling sound against one side of the cave, I turned my flashlight to it and saw this rather odd Stegophalia-esque lizard looking right at me, slowly raising one of its hands to the direction of one of the tunnels. I stood stock still for a second, goose bumps all over my body. Sweet! Now we’re talking.